Political dysfunction

One problem with contemporary politics is that it is very difficult to run a government on the basis of sound or evidence-led policy. Underlying this is, actually, an issue that goes to the heart of, er, the brain! If you will forgive the mixed metaphor, I am referring to what philosophers call limited human reason.

It goes like this. We human learn about our environment through trial and error (we do this collectively over time). Because our cognitive capacity is limited, we rely on others to help test our ideas. We never get it right all the time, and often get it wrong. Accurate understanding of the world around us is a collective endeavour.

The bottom line in all of this is that there is always a possibility that we are wrong. Apart from a few simplified bits of knowledge such as basic 'facts' about our world, most of what we 'know' is actually an interpretation from our personal or cultural lens. We can't really talk about such things as right or wrong in a simplistic binary sense. Anyone who has had exposure to quite different cultures will understand this. This means we will always need to be open to change, to modify our ideas. This is as true for individual as for societies.

A health mental attitude is open to new information, ideas, and perspectives that will enrich our understanding of an issue.  This is especially true of complex issues.

The trouble in politics is that politicians are not given that freedom. If they 'change their minds' over an issue, they are castigated for flip-flop policy. We want consistency. We want them to stand for their values and policy position come hell or high water. But this locks them into the position of not being able to revise their position as the situation changes or as new information comes to light. And that is irrational, and at times dangerous. President Bush saw the world in simple terms: them and us, the good and the bad. (See the movie 'The Battle for Haditha' and tell me the world is not morally complex).


A black and white world is a simpler world and that is what many many people want.Yet, it is dysfunctional because we get stuck in our far-too-simple- versions of life, and we are only left with power.

I am not suggesting that politicians abandon broad policy positions at all, but rather we should celebrate a politician or party that, in light of new information and understanding, modifies their position. That is how healthy individuals function, and also how a healthy polity functions.